Ortiz’ walk-off homer pushes Red Sox past White Sox

Jim Fenton

Thursday

Aug 27, 2009 at 12:01 AMAug 27, 2009 at 10:47 PM

The designated hitter hits a pair of homers and sets the franchise record with his ninth walk-off homer, breaking the mark that was set by Jimmie Foxx. Ortiz, who had one homer in the first week of June, has 22 with less than six weeks remaining in the season.

His seventh season with the Red Sox has hardly been the best of times for David Ortiz.

The 33-year-old designated hitter got off to a slow start at the plate, has been unable to move his batting average into the land of respectability and had his named linked to baseball’s steroid scandal.

With less than six weeks remaining on the schedule, though, there is still plenty of time for Ortiz to add some positive vibes to what has been a difficult season.

“You make of it what you will, but I keep saying he’s a huge part of our offense,’’ said left fielder Jason Bay. “I think it gets overlooked. You look at other guys having better years, but we’ve still got 30-something games left to play and we’re in the middle of a playoff race, and if he keeps swinging like he can, that’s huge for us.’’

Ortiz showed exactly what he’s capable of doing in crunch time on Wednesday night, hitting a pair of home runs, including a walk-off shot with one out in the ninth inning.

The blast into the right-field seats gave the Red Sox a 3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox, increasing their lead in the wild-card race to 21/2 games over the Texas Rangers.

“It’s great,’’ said Tim Wakefield, who pitched seven solid innings in his first appearance since July 8. “You’re getting late into August right now, starting September in a week or so, and it’s good to have big hits like that, especially from him.’’

It marked Ortiz’ first walk-off homer since Sept. 12, 2007 against the Tampa Bay Rays and was his first two-homer game since Sept. 17, 2008 against the Ray.

Ortiz now has nine walk-off homers with the Red Sox, giving him the franchise record that had previously been held by Jimmie Foxx with eight.

“It felt good, man,’’ said Ortiz when asked if it was like old times. “Oh, yeah.’’

Oritz did not get his first homer until May 20 against the Toronto Blue Jays, doing so in his 135th at bat. He remained stuck at one homer through June 5, then recorded seven that month, seven more in July and now has seven in August.

With 22 homers, Ortiz, who has seven homers in his past 11 games, should be approaching 30 by the time the season ends, providing the Red Sox with power even though he is still batting only .227.

“With the way things have gone for him, he’s kind of got one of those, ‘Hey, I might as well (go for it), I’ve got nowhere to go but up,’” said Bay. “He’s been like that the whole time.

“I think he also realizes we’re still winning and are in the middle of a playoff race with a bunch of guys around him. We, or anyone else, is not leaning on him to be the, ‘You’ve got to be the guy or otherwise we’re not going to do it.’ I think that that is easier for him.’’

Ortiz’ first homer went into the Monster seats in the second inning when he took a pitch the other way. The game-winning drive off Tony Pena, his 14th walk-off hit with the Red Sox, was drilled to right.

“That’s how you get your feeling back and swing the bat like I’ve been doing lately,’’ said Ortiz of going both ways with his homers. “Anything can happen. You have to stay focused.’’

Catcher Victor Martinez had a good feeling when Ortiz went to the plate in the ninth.

“Right before he went up, I said, ‘Come on, let’s go do this,’”said Martinez. “He gave me that look and I could see in his eyes that he was going to be focused on that at bat. He put a great swing on that ball.’’

Said Ortiz: “Victor just pushes me, man. Every at-bat, he gets in my face and starts screaming. I like it. He gets me in the mood.’’

It had been a while since Ortiz was able to circle the bases and be greeted at home plate the way he was on Wednesday.

“When I’m running the bases, what I think about is the beating I’m going to get when I get to the plate,’’ he said. “But it’s cool.’’

The Red Sox would gladly give Ortiz a few more of those rough receptions at the plate down the stretch of what has been a long season for him.

“I don’t think there’s a guy in here who would pick a different guy at this point in the season and everything he’s been through,’’ said Bay. “From where he came from this year, that is amazing (to have 22 homers).

“Even with the struggles he’s had, I don’t think it surprises that many people, though, because he’s still David. Struggles or not, I think most people still regard him as one of the best hitters in baseball.’’

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